Daily Briefing, March 27

Hedy Lamarr was a tech innovator, even if she never owned an Apple Watch.

Hedy Lamarr was a tech innovator, even if she never owned an Apple Watch.

Photo: Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Photo: Hulton Archive, Getty Images

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Hedy Lamarr was a tech innovator, even if she never owned an Apple Watch.

Hedy Lamarr was a tech innovator, even if she never owned an Apple Watch.

Photo: Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Daily Briefing, March 27

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If you missed it ...

In a week when the Apple Watch became a little less overpriced and Hulk Hogan became a lot more expensive, we also saw ...

•The Federal Communications Commission gave an Instagramnod to an unlikely women-in-technology pioneer: Hedy Lamarr, an actress who appeared in many movies in the 1940s and ’50s. In 1941, she and George Antheil filed for a patent for a “Secret Communications System,” designed to prevent the enemy from intercepting messages. In other words, an early form of encryption. Does the Justice Department know about this?

•If you swipe nearly $2 million from Toys R Us, you aren’t playing with kids. That’s what transport manager Daniel Chon, 28, allegedly did, and the New York Daily News reported that he was ordered held without bail after appearing in Brooklyn Federal Court. The paper quoted prosecutors as saying he was able to load debit cards with “eCash” 117 times, then draw out the money at ATMs.

The Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techbriefing